I wanted to ask you all whether anybody has ever experienced something similar, or heard of it.

These two events happened long ago, the first one in the 1980s, the second one in the 1990s. I have never been able to explain them, nor found anything similar mentioned anywhere. I'm still puzzled over them today!

So here goes:

1. I was with a group of about 10 friends. We had been meditating together and afterwards decided to go out for a snack/drink (non-alcoholic). So we were sitting in this Cafe, and someone tells about this "experiment" where one person sits on a chair and four people surround the chair from all sides, each placing one finger underneath it. The person proposed that the four people would be able to lift the chair high up with the person sitting on it only with their four fingers. People said, okay let's try that, and I was the one sitting on the chair. Four people surrounded me, each put one finger under the seat of the chair. One of them gently touched the crown of my head just for 1 or 2 seconds, then said "Now lift!" Next thing I knew, I was high up in the air, way above everyone's heads, the four people all had their arms stretched out to maximum, lifting me effortlessly with four fingers (I weighed about 67 kg at the time). While this was amazing in itself, the most powerful sensation however was that in those few seconds I was up there (maybe 5 or 10), I felt that I'm not there. I was not there, I was absent, I was nothing, I was empty. It was a pleasant experience. They gently lowered me back down, and my perception returned to normal. What happened there?

2. I was with my boyfriend of the time on vacation. We were in love, infatuated with each other, and spent a lot of time in the hotel room, making love. On one such occasion, we were lying on the bed, making love, when suddenly there was a flash and a bang, like a mini-explosion right above the bed. As if someone had lit a firecracker or something. There was the sound like a firecracker exploding, and a lighting flash. We were both startled, of course, and wondering what had happened. Since we could not find any physical, logical explanation for it we forgot about it eventually. There were no firecrackers in the room, no wires, no lamp hanging in that location ... I never really forgot it and have been wondering ever since, what that was? There was no emotion, good or bad, attached to this phenomena.

To be honest I have no experience with either of these phenomena, so I doubt I can be of much help.
I've experienced direct (visual) thought transfer to my ex before. It was a cover of Time magazine I had read while waiting for my Chinese takeaways. She actually saw the cover as I walked in and immediately described it to me. It was quite a shock, but in a positive way.

I treasure experiences like these because they help to remind me that there's so much more to life than we will know (at least while we walk this earth). I guess it's just something I need from time to time, so I don't get carried away by whatever hype hits the 'net next...

Hi, Martina. Your experience with the chair is absolutely fascinating. It reminded me of some notions of Aikido I was taught many years ago, during a mini-course on self-defence techniques. The underlying idea was that, when we consider each other as all part of oneness, gravity and physical strength play a completely different role. The fact that you had all been meditating could explain your availability to experience what you did experience.

About the firecracker experience, the Italian saying “fare scintille” conveys the notion very well. My dictionary suggests one possible translation relating to two people having an argument - “sparks fly when they are together”-, but the Italian idiom has many different connotations, such as success, liveliness, and on the whole producing a physically visible effect from an otherwise subtle but intense experience.

The first one reminds me of when I was a kid, we used to play a game at sleepovers called "levitation", where a few girls would lift up another girl who was in a lying position, using only two fingers each. If I recall correctly it did work, but I don't know if there was anything supernatural about it. I honestly never thought about it much but now that you bring it up, it does seem impossible. I wonder if there are any articles online about it.

Giulia wrote:About the firecracker experience, the Italian saying “fare scintille” conveys the notion very well. My dictionary suggests one possible translation relating to two people having an argument - “sparks fly when they are together”-, but the Italian idiom has many different connotations, such as success, liveliness, and on the whole producing a physically visible effect from an otherwise subtle but intense experience.

Haha, Giulia! Yes sparks did indeed fly between that chap and me, on several levels it seems! It was a passionate, crazy time. Thank you Giulia!

The first one reminds me of when I was a kid, we used to play a game at sleepovers called "levitation", where a few girls would lift up another girl who was in a lying position, using only two fingers each. If I recall correctly it did work, but I don't know if there was anything supernatural about it. I honestly never thought about it much but now that you bring it up, it does seem impossible. I wonder if there are any articles online about it.

Oh wow thank you Blue for that! On that Wikipedia page my experience is actually described as well. Quoting:

"Another variation of the game takes place with one person seated in a chair. Four volunteers agree to stand around the sitter, two on the sitter's left side and the other two on his/her right. Each of the four places two fingers under each corner of the chair's seat and the four together will attempt to lift the chair and sitter, which generally fails. The volunteers will then perform some small ritual, usually involving rubbing their hands together or circling the chair in various direction (counter-clockwise, walking backwards, etc.) After this ritual, the volunteers hold their hands over the sitter's head to "transfer" energy into the sitter which will presumably make him/her weightless. The lifters then retry lifting the sitter the same way as before."

I'm not sure I agree with the explanation given though. It is said that is actually easy to life a person who is lying down with five people only using their fingertips. Really? The mind playing tricks, and "self-fulfilling prophecy" is mentioned. I don't know. In my case, as I said I weighed about 67 kg at the time, and they were four people lifting me. This would mean each of them lifted about 17 kg with just the tip of one finger. We buy 20kg bags of dog food all the time and I can barely lift them with two hands!

There has to be more to it. Also, I clearly remember my perception of not being there (while at the same time being fully aware) at the time they lifted me. Come to think of it, this experience was a bit similar to my OBE where I also felt I'm not there but am fully aware. Clearly something was altered in the moment they lifted me that defies our current understanding of gravity - more along the lines of what Giulia was talking about above.

I havent experienced the chair lift...but have had plenty of other weird stuff..some a little worrying enough to stop me meditating.

I think the chair lift is explained easily enough with the same concepts as what enables NLP to work...and all the religious altered states that enable you to out needles through your skin etc. Its just believing you can...alters your abilities.

The problem is that you then become an outsider...an anomally... to existing cultures. There is no fit. You are a 'weirdo'. Cant belong, have a normal restricted material life...y'know...two kids, a house car and a huge financial burden?

So we chose to block, turn away and keep to abilities that permit that.